Old Life
by MystiMoon
Summary: Even after Sara left Las Vegas, her old life comes back to haunts her when she gets kidnapped by an ex-con. Will the team even know she's missing?
1. Chapter 1

It was 9:00 am and Sara had decided to get up and get ready to go visit her mother. It has been 3 months since she left her life in Las Vegas for a more calming life in San Francisco. She was just starting to get a hold of her new life. No more victims, no more worries about work. Also, no more Gil. She was very upset that she had to leave him behind.

Sara had rolled out of bed and into the shower. She had the water running and couldn't hear anything in her surroundings. Couldn't hear the couple in the apartment beside her yelling at each other, couldn't hear the birds chirping, couldn't hear the man entering her apartment.

He was completely covered in black from head to toe. He wore a ski mask to hide his identity. He also had a gun hidden in the waistband of his slacks.

He entered the front room so silently, he took in his surroundings, and quickly devised a plan for an easy escape with the girl. He hid in a closet; waiting for his chance.

Sara walked out of the shower and got dressed. She headed towards the kitchen to grab some breakfast. She just got to her fridge when she heard a creak from behind her. She quickly spun around and saw a man walking towards her with a gun drawn.

Sara froze. She looked worried for a moment then calmed herself down, "What do want?"

The man just laughed, "I can't believe you travelled across state lines to get away from it all."

Sara started wondering how he knew all this about her. She left her old life behind.

The man walked a little closer, "I know all about you Sara. Your parents, your job, your Grissom."

"What do you want?" Sara repeated trying to change the subject.

The man grabbed one of Sara's arms, "I need your expertise as a CSI," the man started pulling Sara towards the door.

Sara fought back. She started punching the man in the gut. He stumbled back but kept a firm grasp on Sara's arm. The gun got dropped in the struggle so the man grabbed for a kitchen knife. He held it up to Sara's neck and she stopped struggling.

The man, now exhausted, said, "that's better. You try to fight back again and you will never be able to see your beloved Grissom again."

"What do you mean? I wasn't planning on seeing him again anyways," Sara said trying not to move and make things worse.

The man started releasing Sara, "you should see him, he misses you."

"Is there a reason you came here besides telling me Grissom misses me?" Sara said now trying to think of a way to get rid of him.

"Yes, there is. I came here to get you to come back to Vegas with me," the man said grabbing onto Sara's arm again.

Sara tried to back away, "I'm not going back to Vegas. I won't."

The man pulled a cloth out of his pocket, "what makes you think I'm giving you a choice?" he said as he covered Sara's mouth and nose.

Sara fought back and got out of his grasp. The man was quick though and grabbed the knife and stabbed her in the side. She doubled over in pain. The man covered her mouth again and everything went black.

Once Sara was out, the man carried her to his car. He put her in the trunk and tied her arms behind her back. He got in the car and drove off towards Las Vegas, Nevada.


	2. Chapter 2

The landlord at Sara's apartment complex was walking back towards his office when he walked past Sara's room. The door was open and he thought it was very odd for her. She usually kept to herself and never left things open like that. He knocked on the door, "Miss Sidle? Are you okay?"

No answer. He walked into the apartment and his eyes were immediately drawn to the blood on the kitchen floor.

He called 911 and the police arrived shortly after. They treated it like any other kidnapping. Though none of them knew the victim and who she was.

The head CSI in San Francisco was tall with short dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He wore blue jeans, a dress shirt, and a nice black jacket to complete the outfit. His name was James Wood.

He stood at the door with a silver case in his hand. He surveyed the room. The homeowner looked like she was neat and tidy. There was nothing that seemed out of place except for a kitchen knife thrown on the floor near the pool of blood.

James walked over to one of his CSIs who was looking for prints around the blood. The woman was wearing black slacks and a plain red t-shirt. Her name is Jenny Beal

"The victim could still be alive. There isn't enough blood loss to indicate death," James announced.

Jenny looked up from what she was doing, "yeah. I'm going to go to the lab and run the prints I found around here. I'm also gonna run her name through our database. Maybe she has a record. It could lead us to the kidnapper."

James bent down, "run this blood to. Maybe the kidnapper cut himself in the process."

Jenny left the room with multiple evidence bag in her hands. James walked over to the landlord to ask a couple of questions.

"What do you know about Miss Sidle?" James asked.

The landlord looked very distraught, "Well, she kept to herself. She just moved in a couple months ago."

"Do you know why Miss Sidle moved to San Francisco? Did she have a job?" James asked more interested in the woman's reasoning.

The landlord thought for a moment, "She said something about getting away from her old job. She came from Vegas. She said she worked around death...uh...dying people. Something like that. I don't think she has a job. She doesn't leave her apartment to much. Every time I see her come back, it looks like she's been crying for hours. I don't know anything else."

"Thanks. You've been a great help," James said as he headed towards his car to head back to the lab.

He just got to his car when his cell phone rang. He picked it up.

"James Wood."

*Hey James, it's Jenny. Got the results back.

"Okay. What's the situation?"

*Well, all the blood is from a single female. There are no prints on the knife. Only print I found was on the counter and it doesn't match anyone in California.

"Did you run Miss Sidle's name through the database?"

*Yes. She's not in the system anywhere in California.

"Try searching in Nevada. The landlord said she came from Vegas."

*Ooh, a Vegas girl. I'll get right on that.

James hung up and drove off to the lab. It was a dark murky building that looked as if it could use a major make over. James headed into the lab where Jenny sat. He walked in the room, "Got anything?"

Jenny looked up, "Yeah. She's a Vegas girl all right. Sara Sidle. In CODIS but not as a criminal. She was a CSI for the Las Vegas Crime Lab."

James looked shocked. "Someone has taken a former CSI? That can't be good. I need to contact her supervisor."

"Wait, I also ran that print through Vegas database. Came back to a Rob Hound. Busted for cocaine possession. Made bail last week," Jenny said.


	3. Chapter 3

Gil Grissom sat in his office looking over the mounds of paperwork that had piled up on his desk that he has yet to accomplish. He was deep in thought when the ring of his phone brought him back into the real world.

"Grissom."

*Gil Grissom? This is James Wood from the San Francisco Crime Lab. Were you the supervisor of Sara Sidle?

The name suddenly blew him away. Sara? It's been months since he has seen her. He suddenly turned white, "Yes I was. She left about three months ago."

*I have a situation. I was just at her apartment here in San Francisco for a possible kidnapping.

"Kidnapping? Sara's been kidnapped?"

*It looks that way. We found her apartment tidy except for a knife and a pool of blood in the kitchen.

"Sara was injured? Do you have any leads?"

*Well. I was going to fly over to Vegas to talk to you. I do have a lead though. Rob Hound. He lives in Vegas. I thought they might be heading back home for a visit.

"Sara's in real trouble now. She doesn't have her CSI status, no weapons, and tons of enemies."

They ended the phone conversation.

Grissom then paged everyone on his team to meet in his office pronto. Everyone showed up. Catherine, Warrick, Nick, and Greg stood in his office wondering what the rush was about. Grissom looked like he was going to be sick. It was very unusual for him to be like this. Something seriously must be wrong. It took a moment for Grissom to compose himself before he spoke, "It's about Sara. She's been kidnapped."

Everyone looked shocked. Catherine spoke, "How did that happen? Where?"

Grissom looked at the ground, "She has been taken from her apartment in San Francisco. The landlord walked past her room with no one in there, door open, blood and a knife on the kitchen floor."

"Sara's been hurt? How badly?" Nick asked.

Grissom looked up at Nick, "I don't know yet. James Wood, a lead CSI on the case, is on his way here. He said he had a lead to a guy who lives in Vegas with a rap sheet."

It was Warrick's turn to speak, "She's been taken by a criminal. Damn I hope we can find her."


	4. Chapter 4

Sara woke up in a small, dark space. She guessed it was a trunk of a car. It seemed similar to the one she was in with the miniature killer. "This is why I left Vegas!" she mumbled to herself.

The car slowed to a stop. She could hear the car door opening and closing. Footsteps were the next thing she heard. Then, the sound of the key in the lock on the trunk. The door opened and Sara immediately closed her eyes from the brightness of the sun.

The man picked Sara up and threw her over his shoulder.

Sara started screaming and kicking, "Let me go! HELP!" the man quickened his pace and ran into the building.

Once inside, the man slammed the door closed and roughly threw Sara onto the ground. She was hurting all over her body and her side was hurting the most from the stab wound. Her hands were still tied behind her back which made it even more difficult to move.

The man started walking away, "I'll leave you to your thoughts for a bit. I'll be back to talk to you later," he said as he walked out the door. The door locked behind him.

Sara just laid on the floor wondering what she was going to do to get out. She slowly sat up. Her side stung but ignored the pain. She propped herself up against the wall and looked around. She was in a house. The windows were boarded up and there were triple locks on every exit. It looked dirty in the room she was in. There was an overturned sofa, and an end table that was collecting dust. The light in the room flickered and was starting to irritate Sara's eyes.

She sat there for what seemed like an hour. He walked back into the room.

Sara looked up at him, "What do you want with me? I'm not a CSI anymore."

"I know. You still have the skill of one though," the man sneered.

Sara just stared at him blankly. The man took out a knife and continued, "If I were to slit your throat right now, the arterial spray would be over here, right?" he said as he made the motions at Sara's neck.

Sara didn't answer. The man backhanded her across the face, "Answer me!"

Sara slowly nodded her head. She was afraid of what he was trying to acheive.

"It would also get on my shirt, right?" the man asked.

Sara nodded.

"So you CSIs would come in and be able to see that the dead girl was sitting here?" he asked as he pointed to the spot where Sara sat.

Again, Sara nodded.

"What if I bleached the walls and my shirt?" the man questioned.

Sara looked up at him again, but didn't answer. She asked, "Why are you asking me these questions? You planning on killing me? Slitting my throat and cleaning up you mess."

The man laughed, "I wasn't planning on killing you. This is for future reference. I can kill you if you don't answer my questions, though," he said as he put the knife back up to Sara's neck.

"Okay," she said trying to get him to lower his weapon. He did. "It depends on your cleaning job."

"What can you get from the dead girl's body?" the man asked with the knife at his side.

Sara was starting to get more and more worried with the questions he was asking. She didn't want to aid a killer the next time he slit someone's throat, "Fibres, hair, the type of knife you use," she said reluctantly.

Seeing how she was worried and something else on her mind, he said, "I'm not going to kill you. All you have to do is answer simple questions. Even a former CSI can answer them. Consider this a test of your ability."

"I'm not going to help you kill someone. You will slip up somehow and will be caught," she said getting more angry.

"How do you know I haven't already killed someone?" he said will an evil smile, "a lovely woman. Sitting right where you are."

All expression on Sara's face turned to disgust, "You sick bastard."

Sara started screaming again in the hopes someone would hear her. The man grabbed Sara's ankles and started dragging her towards a door that lead to another room in the house. He dragged her through that room until he found another door that had a set of stairs leading down to a basement.

He pushed her down the stairs and locked the door. Sara went tumbling down. She wasn't able to brace her fall because her hands were still bound behind her back. Her head hit the ground with a loud thump. Her vision started to blur and she fell into the darkness.


	5. Chapter 5

James Wood arrived at the Las Vegas Crime Lab. He walked up to the receptionist and asked for Gil Grissom. She showed him the way to his office and a few moments later, he was standing outside the door.

He knocked on the door and a voice from inside called out, "Come in."

He opened the door to find not only Gil Grissom but four other people staring back at him. He looked at the person sitting at the desk, "you must be Gil Grissom," he said as he walked up to shake his hand. James stood there awkwardly waiting for an introduction to the others in the office.

Grissom finally spoke up, "This is James Wood from San Francisco PD. James, this is Catherine Willows, Warrick Brown, Nick Stokes, and Greg Sanders. They are the CSIs on my team."

James went around and shook everyone's hand. Then he turned back to Grissom, "Okay, first off, Sara has been injured but it doesn't look life threatening if she can get the bleeding to stop. I need to look at the cases she has worked on and see if I can find a link between her and our suspect Rob Hound."

He waited for Grissom to respond but instead, Catherine said, "No need to look back. Sara and I worked that case. Rob Hound was a suspect in a murder investigation but we couldn't place him at the scene. Instead, we got him on cocaine possession. Not as long in jail as first degree murder, but it worked."

Grissom spoke up, "How long ago was this?"

"A year. The guy slit the woman's throat and tossed the body somewhere. We found the blood of the vic, but we couldn't find her," Catherine answered.

"Then why'd he just take Sara and not you?" Nick asked, "Not that I want you to get kidnapped," he added.

Warrick spoke now, "Catherine is surrounded by people who would be looking for her. Sara is out in another state. He didn't think anyone would notice. Having to stab her must have been a last resort."

"Do you have an address for Mr. Hound?" Grissom asked James.

James looked through the papers he brought with him, "yes, he lives at 186 Hampton Road."

Grissom stood up, "well, that's where we're going. Greg, Nick, look into Mr. Hound. See if there are any other places he would have brought her. Warrick look for any known associates of this guy. Catherine, I need you to come with us. You worked the case, you know the details."

Grissom, James, and Catherine went over to the house that was listed as Rob Hound's address.

The place was completely empty. There was no furniture, no mail in the mailbox; only dust covering the floors and cobwebs covering the walls.

"I don't think he lives here anymore," Catherine announced.

James walked in further, "maybe there is something here that will let us know where he has moved to."

The three CSIs searched the entire house. James was in the living room, Grissom was in the kitchen, Catherine went to the master bedroom.

James and Grissom came up empty. Catherine walked in the bedroom to find a note sitting on the mattress. She picked it up with one gloved hand and read it.

Dear CSIs,

Thought you would find me here, did you? Well, you thought wrong. If you are here, it means you know what is going on. Sara is mine, she will be returned to you when the time is right. Maybe I'll even do the same to her as she and Ms. Willows suspected me of doing one year ago. You know what that means. No body; only blood. I'm sure you have her DNA on record still in Las Vegas even if she lives in San Francisco.

I look forward to see Ms. Willows and Mr. Grissom on your arrival; even if it's too late.

Rob Hound

Catherine met up with Grissom and James and showed them the letter.

Grissom looked thoughtful, "I wasn't on the case, how does he know me?"

"If he was watching me and Sara, he's ought to know what was going on between the two of you," Catherine answered.


	6. Chapter 6

Sara woke up with a splitting headache and her whole body felt like one big bruise. She was in pain from head to toe, she didn't have enough energy to move around. She layed there at the bottom of the stairs hoping this would end soon.

She didn't know how long she was down there. She felt cold and all she wanted to do was go back home and fall asleep. She didn't know if anyone was looking for her. At least in Vegas, she could rely on people looking for her. Now she was all alone.

The door suddenly burst open and the man stood in the doorway. He started walking down the stairs. He said, "I thought you would have remembered me by now. It was one year ago we met," he stood halfway down the stairs to give Sara time to think.

Sara suddenly clicked in, "you did slit a girl's throat. I wish I could of put you away for it."

The man continued walking down the stairs, "now Sara, it's not good to jump to conclusions," he rested a moment and let out an evil smile then continued, "Grissom wouldn't be very happy his best CSI wasn't letting the evidence speak for itself."

"What do you know about Grissom and me?" Sara asked.

He was now standing on the last stair, "everything. You loved him, he loved you, you left him."

Sara tried to get up to move. She got halfway up when the man grabbed her arm and threw her back down.

"I'm talking to you. Don't walk away," he yelled.

Sara was laying on the floor too weak to try to get up again. She kept thinking of Grissom and the other CSIs. _Do they even know I'm missing?_

"They will be looking for you by now. I've given them their warning," he said laughing.

Sara put her hand to her side. She could feel her blood slowly seeping through her fingers, "I need help. I am going to die from this wound."

He walked over Sara into the empty room, "yeah I know. What are you going to do for me if I help you?"

Sara thought for a moment,"I—I'm collateral if I'm alive. If you have been watching me, then you know what Grissom will do to get me back." _I can't believe I am pleading for help like this. _She thought.

"I could get something useful out of this," he sat thinking about the plea bargain for a bit, "call it a deal, I'll go get something for you."

He walked away and came back with a muffin, a glass of water, some cleaning materials, and a bandage.

"Don't worry, I do know first aid. I'll clean you up," he said as Sara lay on the ground helpless. Rob lifted up her shirt just enough to see the whole stab wound. He looked it over for a moment, "You know you didn't have to run."

Sara just looked up at him shocked at what he said, "You think I'll just go willingly to another state with a 'supposed' killer?"

Rob was applying pressure to the wound. When it stopped bleeding, he put a bandage around it, "that wasn't so bad was it?"

Sara didn't answer the question but asked one of her own, "have you called Grissom yet to tell him what you want in return for me?"

"I was getting to that," he said as he pulled her carefully towards the wall and propped her up. He brought the food and water to her, "eat."

He left the room to make a call.


	7. Chapter 7

Grissom was sitting in his office. His hands on his forehead. He could feel a headache coming on. He sat in silence trying to wrap his head around what was happening. The ring of his cell phone broke the silence.

"Grissom"

*I have three demands that you have to meet in two days or you won't see Sara ever again.

Grissom stood up and ran to the AV lab so the tech could trace the call.

"What are these demands?"

*I want immunity from being convicted of this, a plane ticket out of this country, and 1 million dollars.

"That's going to be hard to get in two days."

*If you don't, I will kill your beloved Sara. You know, you may want to follow her lead. She's being compliant. You know, doing as I say. She is a very sweet girl once you break her in.

"Don't hurt her. How do I know she's not already dead? Let me talk to her."

There was the sound of feet shuffling. Grissom listened closely to what he was hearing. There was another sound of muffled voices and Sara whimpering. Then Sara's voice came on the line.

*Grissom. Please do as he says. I'm okay.

Her voice sounded very robotic like she was reading off a piece of paper.

"Where are you?"

*I don't know. I'm in a basement or ...

Her voice got cut off by what sounded like the man slapping her. She started sobbing. The man came back on the phone.

*That's too much information for you. I'll call you later with more updates.

The phone was disconnected.

Grissom immediately looked up to the lab tech sitting behind the computer, "Please tell me you have something."

"Yes," the tech said looking pleased, "1733 Ashgrove."

"Thanks," Grissom said as he left the room.

He ran into the break room to find Nick, Catherine, and Warrick.

He almost shouted at them, "I got an address. Come on!"

With that, they all left the room for one of the Tahoes. Grissom was in the drivers seat, weaving in and out of traffic like a mad man.


	8. Chapter 8

They got to the address with other officers already surrounding the building. One of them had a megaphone and was shouting into the house.

He yelled, "Rob Hound. We have you surrounded. Sara is hurt. Let her go to a hospital."

The door to the house opened. All the officers raised their guns ready for a battle. Instead a walkie-talkie got tossed out of the door and then it was shut again.

Grissom ran up and received the walkie-talkie. A voice came through the other end,

*Good morning, Gil.

"Let Sara go."

*Do you have what I asked for?

"Not yet. It's difficult to get that much in such a short time."

*Ahh...but I thought you loved her. You wouldn't be here if you didn't. Or, maybe you came here to witness the final moments of her life.

"Don't hurt her! Why are you doing this? She didn't hurt you. You could have gone to jail for much longer. If you kill her, I assure you, you will get the death penalty."

*But it will be so much worth while to see so many lives broken because of one shot to the heart.

Grissom heard the walkie-talkie being dropped.

Sara still sat where she was before. She could faintly hear the conversation between Grissom and Rob. She could hear all the sirens wringing outside.

Rob came back to the basement, "I thought you said I could use you for collateral?" he looked very angry and he was pacing all over the basement with the gun in his right hand.

Sara looked at him nervously, "you can. I didn't think they'd find us so soon."

He pointed the gun to her head, "you have like a tracking device on you, don't you?" He cocked the gun. Sara was starting to sweat, "you little bitch! Where is it?" He started coming over towards Sara.

"I—I don't have anything. You left my cell back at my apartment. I have nothing else," Sara said trying to calm him down. It obviously wasn't working.

He ran back upstairs and grabbed the walkie-talkie. He yelled into it.

"How did you find me? Does she have a gps tracker or something?"

Grissom spoke into the other side.

*No. We tracked your call.

"So she spoke too long. She gave you hints about where we were. That bitch!"

He started heading back towards Sara with the walkie-talkie. Grissom and the team were surrounding the device in order to hear as much as possible.

They sat back and listened.

Rob was yelling very loudly, "you knew if you kept him on the line, they could track our location. You tricked me!"

"I didn't know they were tracking the call," Sara said more meekly. You could hear the worry in her voice.

"Don't act so innocent. You lead them right to us. The whole speech about me using for collateral so that I would keep you alive. Well, now you're dead."

The team could hear him kicking and slapping Sara around a bit. She kept yelling for help. Suddenly she stopped crying for help and instead started screaming, "stop, get off of me. Griss help!"

"Where is the tracking device?" Rob was completely enraged now. He slapped Sara again, "if you won't tell me, I'll find it myself."

Sara just kept screaming, "I don't have anything on me. STOP! Get off me."

The team could hear clothes being ripped, a gun being cocked, then nothing. Sara stopped screaming.

Rob's voice came back on the walkie-talkie, "where is it? Why was it so easy for them to find us?"

Sara didn't say anything.

"You're scared now, huh? You won't talk when you're threatened with death. You were talking with Gil perfectly fine."

Sara started to talk again, "you'd be the same if you were in my position."

"What, do you feel vulnerable? Poor Sara. Doesn't have control over a situation. Better yet, her beloved Grissom is listening. Right now, he's probably picturing the scene. He remembers your face. Maybe we should give him a play by play?"

"What do you want from me?" Sara asked again.

Rob ignored her question but started talking to Grissom, "hello Gil. How are you tonight. Is Catherine out there too? And the rest of the team? They shouldn't miss this."

*We're all here.

"Let me give you a visual of the scene. We're in the basement. No windows, one locked door in the corner. We're at the bottom of the stairs. Sara is laying on the ground with her hands tied. I'm standing over her with the walkie-talkie in one hand and a gun pointed at her head in the other. Are you all visualizing this?"

*Yes. What do you want?

"I'm not done yet. Now that you have the basics, now add this. Sara has a stab wound on her abdomen, blood coming out of her head, multiple bruises on her body, and clothes torn apart. The pieces are all lying on the other corner. She's beautiful. I can tell why you love her." Rob said sneering.

The team was standing outside. They couldn't take it anymore. Now that they knew what it looked like in there, they wanted to go in themselves and kill the creep.

*Rob, you have achieved what you wanted. You've made Sara look vulnerable and weak. We understand the visual. Now, let her go before she dies.

The team could hear Sara groaning in the background. They knew this was definitely not what she wanted to hear, but if it helped her escape, it would work.

Rob came back on the walkie-talkie, "that's not all I wanted to achieve. Sara and Catherine out there did all they could to put me behind bars, even if I wasn't convicted of murder. They reached."

*It is their job to find out who did the crime. If it wasn't you, then they would have found more evidence to support it.

"They couldn't but they still put away for a petty crime," Rob said. His anger was now turning into sadness.

*Rob, if you don't let Sara go, a group of SWAT members will barge into your home and take you that way. It would be easier if you cooperate.

Rob stopped talking into the mouthpiece and was talking directly to Sara, "would you look at that, he will do anything to save you. It won't be worth all the effort though."

"Just let me go," Sara said still looking at the gun that was pointed at her head.

The SWAT team began to move in and Rob and Sara could hear a loud thump coming from upstairs.

"Any last words for your beloved Grissom?" Rob asked Sara.

Sara didn't answer but instead kicked out her feet with all the strength she had at the moment. She hit Rob hard and he stumbled in pain.

"That's it!" Rob said annoyed and he pulled the trigger.

The SWAT members heard the shot and came into the basement to find Sara laying on the ground with Rob standing over her with a gun. Rob turned and pointed the gun at the team and with a single shot, Rob fell to the ground.


End file.
